The current study used a melodic reproduction task to investigate underlying processes that separate musicians from non-musicians in the ability to play by ear. Previous studies suggest intensive musical training induces morphological and functional changes in auditory and motor systems of the brain. In addition, previous studies suggest that as a result of musical training auditory and motor systems become intrinsically linked. Therefore it was hypothesized that musicians are better able to extract movement related information from the notes in target melodies. It was predicted that this process would be reflected by the auditory evoked potential (AEP) and in the preparation of upcoming responses, measured by the contingent negative variation (CNV). It was found that musicians out-performed non-musicians in playing by ear and that overall learning was reflected by different processing of target melodies. Evidence for upcoming response preparation was not found which seems to disconfirm the original hypothesis. Instead, it is suggested that musicians are better in the encoding of melodies into working memory